WPP buys German digital agency October 8, 2012 Advertising giant WPP has bought a majority stake in German digital agency k102 as it continues to expand its online footprint. “The investment will continue the company’s strategy of developing its services in fast-growing and important markets and sectors and strengthening its digital capabilities,” the firm said yesterday. k102, based in Dusseldorf, has worked alongside [...]
Troubled steel markets harm Cookson profit October 8, 2012 COOKSON Group plunged 12.36 per cent yesterday as it issued a profit warning. In an interim management statement, the FTSE 250-listed materials group warned that a weak performance in its engineered ceramics division, which makes products for the global steel industry, would cause it to miss its forecasts for the year. It cited weak steel [...]
Gloomy figures on steel production in Europe make a strong case for a materials group split October 8, 2012 ONE looming breakup overshadowed another for Cookson Group yesterday. The travails of the Eurozone led the industrial materials supplier to warn its full year performance would be below expectations, disappointing those who were looking forward to the conclusion of its strategic review and the potential announcement of a breakup of the group itself into two [...]
Total and Exxon exchange interests October 8, 2012 French oil major Total yesterday said it had exchanged interests with ExxonMobil in undeveloped North Sea assets. Total will swap its interests in four licences for several of Exxon’s interests, including an interest in the Oseberg field and the Dagny field. Total will also pay cash compensation to ExxonMobil. Following the asset exchange, Total’s stake [...]
Deezer secures £81m fundraising October 8, 2012 Music streaming service Deezer has secured $130m (£81m) in funding from Access Capital, the owner of Warner Music. The French company also said it had hit 2m paying subscribers a year after its worldwide launch. Unlike its major rival Spotify, Deezer said it has been profitable since 2010 thanks to “long and patient work with [...]
Big Yellow agrees debt restructure October 8, 2012 Storage firm Big Yellow yesterday said it had taken out a £190m debt facility which had seen it cut back its borrowing. The new debt, from Lloyds, HSBC and Santander, replaces a £225m facility provided by the same three banks and HSH Nordbank. Big Yellow reported a £35.6m loss last year due to writedowns linked [...]
Web game firm King.com lifted by Facebook October 8, 2012 BRITISH Facebook game developer King.com said yesterday it had seen “high double-digit growth” this year and that it has not been plagued by the same problems that have hit US rival Zynga in recent months. King.com, which has become Facebook’s second biggest game developer by users, has seen sales explode in the last year, chief [...]
Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
New handsets fail to lift HTC October 8, 2012 HTC posted a record profit drop yesterday, as the smartphone maker failed to keep up with Samsung and Apple over the summer. The Taiwanese firm said poor sales of its flagship handsets had led to a 79 per cent fall in profits, from T$18.7bn (£400m) to T$3.9bn in the last quarter. Turnover fell 23 per [...]
ITV takes over Finnish studio October 8, 2012 ITV yesterday announced it had acquired Finnish TV studio Tarinatalo, in what the company called “a key part of its transformation plan” as it bolsters its production arm. Tarinatalo, which co-produced the 2007 Eurovision contest, counts the Finnish version of Dragon’s Den among its shows. The deal, of undisclosed value, expands ITV’s footprint in Scandinavia [...]
